Team

Meet the team at Blackbird Interactive

Rob Cunningham

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Rob was an original founding member of Relic Entertainment and was art director for Relic’s sci-fi award winning cult classics Homeworld and Homeworld 2. After THQ’s acquisition of Relic in 2004, Rob continued to direct premium properties for the studio including the Dawn of War and Company of Heroes franchises, but his real passion was for emerging market opportunities. After leaving Relic in 2007, Rob established the eatART Foundation then turned his attention towards forming a new game studio with familiar faces.

Yossarian King

CHIEF TECHNICAL OFFICER

Yossarian has over 25 years of software engineering experience with 22 years in video games. He was previously the technical director of the central tools group at EA Canada, where he helped ship almost every major sports title from the studio since 1995 including the hugely successful FIFA, NHL and NBA sport franchises. He has a Master’s degree in computer vision from the University of British Columbia, wrote several articles for the Game Programming Gems series, and blogs at AltDevBlogADay. When not coding, he enjoys unicycling, ultimate, kayaking, and spending time with his wife and kids.

Aaron Kambeitz

CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER

Aaron was one of the founding members of Relic Entertainment and the acclaimed lead artist on the sci-fi classic Homeworld. Since leaving Relic in 2002, Aaron has been in high demand as an art director, concept artist and intellectual property developer. He has worked for many Vancouver game studios including EA and United Front Games on such titles as Homeworld 2, Need for Speed and Mod Nation Racers.

Eric Torin

CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER

Eric wrote a video game in Basic in 1982, but even his Mom suggested it needed work. So Eric went and completed studies in CompSci, among other things. He then got distracted by the evil lure of television and movie production. He programmed a bunch of tools, created some special effects, donned one of those weird mo-cap suits, and even wrote an episode of Transformers: Beast Wars. After a time Eric remembered how awesome games are, and decided to return to the light of game development for good. He's shipped a bunch of EA titles, and some Relic titles, too. He thinks Blackbird rocks.

Peter Greenwood

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Peter has over 20 years of experience working in senior financial roles with major firms in the public and private sectors. Specializing in financial reporting issues and their resolution, with a track record of delivery on a range of business impact and financial projects. Peter joins Blackbird as CFO, having spent the last seven years as a KPMG partner in Vancouver and prior to that in the UK for BT Group plc, at the VP Finance level. He brings deep knowledge of business growth, investor and stakeholder management as well as organizational leadership for teams.

Rory McGuire

Studio Creative Director

Rory began his career at High Moon Studios where he was instrumental in implementing Scrum which had a large impact on the design process of the Darkwatch and Bourne Conspiracy games. Rory spent a number of years at Sony Online contributing to their online services, including work on Planetside 2 and DC Universe Online. Rory has also provided third party design work for companies such as Sega, Warner Brothers and Disney Interactive on their breakout Where’s My Water series.

Rory led the design team on Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak.

Robin Bacsfalvi

CONTROLLER

Robin has been with Blackbird Interactive Inc. as Controller since March 2012. Robin received her Diploma in Accounting from UBC’s Sauder School of Business. She has over fifteen years of accounting experience across a range of industries here in Vancouver. Robin started her career working at DMCL CA’s public accounting firm before becoming a self-employed accountant. She has worked in this capacity for the food and beverage industry, music industry, non-profits as well as public companies. While she may have traded in her motorcycle for a vehicle with an extra two wheels, she will always be a biker at heart. Robin is often accompanied to work by her faithful companion, Golden Retriever, Drake. She is also the CFO and on the board of the eatART foundation with Rob.

Sarah McNair

Director of Human Resources

Since falling into the role by accident a long time ago, Sarah has found her calling in HR and Leadership Development. Sarah arrived in Vancouver in 2006, and dived head first into the world of digital entertainment joining EA Blackbox and taking them through several transitions. She was part of the leadership team at Pixar Canada, helping build the studio from the ground up (her favourite Pixar character is Wall⋅E, obviously!). Sarah thrives off helping people find their passion and creative potential and is an expert bringing together amazing talent to form world-class teams.